Chapter 5 Primate Evolution The Emergence of Primates The Emergence of Anthropoids The Miocene Anthropoids: Monkeys, Apes, and

and Hominids (?) The Divergence of Hominids from the Other Hominoids

The Emergence of Primates When did primates first emerge? Paleocene (65 million years ago) Plesiadipis Eocene (55 million years ago) Adapids and Omomyids

Figure 5-1 (p. 71) The Evolution of the Primates The Emergence of Primates The Environment What in Particular May Have Favored the Emergence of Primates? The Early Primates: What They Looked Like Early Eocene Primates: Omomyids and Adapids Figure 5-2 (p. 72) A view of the evolutionary relationships between early primates and living primates, adapted from one suggested by R. D. Martin. The primate lineages that do not extend to the present day indicates presumed extinctions. Branching from a common stalk suggests divergence from a common ancestor. P (circled) represents the unknown common ancestor of all primates. Source: From Robert D. Martin, Primate Origins and Evolution: A Phylogenetic Reconstruction (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 1990). The dates for the Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, and the beginning of the Miocene are from William A. Berggren, Dennis V. Kent, John D. Obradovich and Carl Swisher III, Toward a Revised Paleocene Geochronology in Donald R. Prothero and William A. Berggren, eds., Eocene-Oligocene Climatic and Biotic Evolution (Princeton, JH. Princeton University Press, 1992), pp. 29-45. The dates for the end of the Miocene, Plioscene, and Pleistocene are from Steve Jones, Robert Martin, and David Pilbeam, eds., The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Evolution (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992).

Figure 5-3 (p. 73) Continental Drift. The supercontinent Pangea split into Laurasia and Gondwanaland 135 million years ago (mya). These further divided into the continents as we know them today. Source: Boaz and Almquist 1999. The Emergence of Anthropoids The fossil record documenting the emergence of anthropoids is extremely spotty. Oligocene Anthropoids Parapithecids Propliopithecids

The Miocene Anthropoids: Monkeys, Apes, and Hominids? During the Miocene epoch, monkeys and apes clearly diverged in appearance, and numerous kinds of apes appeared in Europe, Asia, & Africa. Early Miocene Proto-Apes Middle Miocene Apes Late Miocene Apes The Miocene Anthropoids Early Miocene Proto-Apes Primarily found in Africa, most of the fossils from the early Miocene (20 million years ago) are described as proto-apes. Proconsul

Middle Miocene Apes The first definitely ape-like finds come from the middle Miocene, 16 million to 10 million years ago. Pierolapithecus Kenyapithecus

Late Miocene Apes Most paleoanthropologists divide the later Miocene apes into the following two groups: Sivapithecids Dryopithecids

The Divergence of Hominids from the Other Hominids The fossil record does not tell us much about the first hominids. The hominid-ape split is thought to have occurred during the late Miocene (about 6 million years ago)

The Divergence of Hominids from the Other Hominids The Molecular Clock Sarich and Wilson (1966) used biochemical comparisons of blood proteins to estimate times of divergence between various primates and their ancestors.